1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to new and useful improvements in drums or drum assemblies and more particularly to a drum or drum assembly provided with electrical amplification by means of a microphone supported within the drum shell.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A conventional drum consists of a hollow drum shell having one or more drum heads held in place by head hoops. Conventional drums are usually not tunable except in a very narrow range by adjustment of the head loop. Likewise, conventional drums have not been electrically amplified in any satisfactory manner.
The placing of an electric microphone adjacent to the drum head of a conventional drum has not proved satisfactory since only the vibrating sound from the drum head is amplified and there is very little amplification of the resonant components of the sound. The placing of an electric microphone inside a conventional drum has resulted in the amplification of a mixture of vibratory sounds which amplification has not been musically acceptable.
Green U.S. Pat. No. 3,509,264 discloses one attempt to amplify percussion instruments, including drums. In this patent, an electric pickup is cemented to the skin of a drum head and vibrates adjacent to a magnet which constitutes the remainder of the pickup and is secured to a fixed part of the drum shell. An arrangement of this type may produce an amplification of vibrations of the drum skin but does not produce an amplification acoustically of the sounds originating from the drum skin and by resonance from the drum shell.
Dominguez and Peake U.S. Pat. No. 3,553,339 discloses a drum-like instrument in which the diaphragm or skin carries one part of an electrical pickup and another part of the electrical pickup is supported on the shell. This device provides for amplification of the vibrations of the diaphragm or skin of the drum head but does not provide for amplification of the acoustical sound mixture produced by the drum.
Ebihara and Serizawa U.S. Pat. No. 3,956,959 discloses a drum in which the diaphragm or skin of the drum head carries a magnet which moves relative to a sensing element. This arrangement provides only for amplification of the vibrations from the drum head and not of the mixture of acoustical sounds produced by the drum.